TechCrunch compares social networking rankings from October ’06 to October ’07. Data courtesy comScore.
Dating sites could have absolutely run away with the social networking market years ago. Remember, Match.com had a social feature before Friendster. Now we have Yahoo with multiple social networks, none of which deliver the goods. Yahooligans like Frederique and Sumeet are probably doing the best they can but there is no denying the ghost town that is Yahoo social networking (how many of your friends have a 360 or Mash account?)
Who sits there at Yahoo HQ and says, “360 didn’t work, so let’s create an entirely new service, and make it plain, difficult to use and not tell anyone about it.” Sometimes I just have to scratch my head and remember that companies like Yahoo have to fail several times before getting something right. Don’t count them out of the game, by any means.
Look at what happened to Myspace. If you’re not selling your band or your ass you have absolutely zero reasons to be there.
Even True got into the social networking game, but alas, it seems that they are unable to even pay their affiliates these days.
I love searching the blog and seeing what I wrote months or years ago. Dating Sites vs. Social Networking might be of interest (related posts feature blew up with recent blog upgrade, waiting on a fix). Sometimes I appear prescient and other times it’s like I’ve never been on a dating site or social network in my life. Such is life, we learn from our mistakes (although learning in front of thousands of people who like to point out where I got it wrong requires a thick skin at times!)
